Linturi to Kindiki: Be careful, Ruto is using you for political gain

Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has warned Deputy President Kithure Kindiki to be careful with his boss, President William Ruto.

Linturi, who was fired from his role after the dissolution of the Cabinet following youth-led anti-government protests last June, argues that Ruto is using Kindiki for political gain and that he will eventually 'dump' him.

Speaking at a church service in Rwarera, Meru County, on Sunday alongside allies of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), Linturi accused Ruto of repeatedly building ties with leaders from the vote-rich Mt Kenya region to climb up politically, only to throw them out.

He cited his removal from Cabinet alongside former Public Service CS Justin Muturi, as well as Gachagua, who was impeached last October after falling out with the President.

“Read the signs correctly because the Mt Kenya region has embarked on looking for an alternative government in 2027. You should not waste time but join them to make Ruto one-term president,” Linturi told Kindiki.

The former minister was flanked by other Gachagua allies such as DCP’s deputy party Leader Cleophas Malala, who argued that Kindiki will be left politically hanging ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“They thought they were banishing Gachagua by impeaching him and branding him a tribalist, but now he has united the entire Kenya,” Malala said.

“We are on a mission to unite the country across ethnic lines and save Kenya from leaders who have no plan to develop the country.”

In Malala's view, President Ruto has reduced Kindiki to attending fundraising events instead of overseeing high-level initiatives Gachagua was involved in.

“He is not involved in important causes like coffee reforms and fighting alcoholism as Gachagua was,” Malala said, claiming that Kindiki is being used to cause local divisions.

Malala at the same time called for transparency in the recent death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang in police custody.

He further urged police to stay away from disrupting the planned memorial march in honour of the youth killed in last year’s June 25 anti-finance bill protests.